In recent decades, significant attention has been called to the issue of safety among truck drivers. In particular, the fact that many drivers may drive for long hours, and may thus be at a lowered sense of alertness, has contributed to a number of highway accidents and fatalities. Accordingly, such perception has led to legislation and regulations that seek to determine how much and how often a truck driver may drive, and dictate the amount and frequency of rest periods. Generally, in order to comply with the legislation and regulations, truck drivers maintain an accurate driver log that records time periods when the driver is on-duty and driving, on-duty but not driving, off-duty, and resting/sleeping. Based on such information, a driver may be able to determine his or her allowable hours of service (HOS) (e.g., a time value that the driver may be on-duty). In some examples, HOS rules may require a trucker to take a 30-minute rest after eight hours of driving, or to stop for a longer period after driving for 11 hours.
Accordingly, in complying with the HOS requirements, truck drivers often seek out convenient parking locations (e.g., authorized truck stops) in order to rest/sleep during the off-duty period. However, truck drivers are often faced with a critical shortage in available truck parking due to growth in commercial vehicle truck travel on the nation's roads. Particularly, the five-axle trucks that generally drive the nation's highways are difficult to park, and require spaces specifically designed for trucks. Inability to find a designated parking spot may result in the truck driver having to spend the night on road shoulders and exit ramps. As such, often truckers must guess when and where to stop, and if they are wrong, may face long distances to find the next location with dedicated legal parking. In some instances, given the unpredictability of traffic congestion, the trucker may be unable to reach the next location without violating the HOS requirements.
Thus, in many instances, a truck driver, in order to avoid the risks associated with not finding a convenient parking location, may prematurely stop (e.g., prior to the expiration of available HOS) at a first location that may have available parking. However, in doing so, the truck driver may not maximize his or her allowable HOS.